These Jobs Don’t Suck: The 20 Best Gigs In America

Posted on January 27, 2015 - By
Bossip Staff

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Need a job? If so, you might want to check these out. According to CNNMoney and PayScale, these are the top 20 jobs currently available in America. They are rated based on a combination of salary, personal satisfaction, societal benefits, and amount of stress you will have to endure.

There are FAR worse things you could be doing for money.

Flip the page to peep the list

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20. Quality Assurance Coordinator/RN

Quality assurance coordinators are registered nurses who help set the standard of care. They create in-house practices to establish the best patient plans and care standards.

Average Salary: $69,300

Top Salary: $96,500

Quality of life ratings:
Personal satisfaction: A | Benefit to society: A | Low stress: B

19. Head Pharmacist

As the head of a pharmacy, these professionals are responsible for day-to-day operations, supervision of employees and ensuring regulatory compliance and quality patient care. They help customers comprehend prescription directives and help with insurance issues.

A project control specialist keeps things on track. They serve as a liaison between management and the builders of big projects including highways, power plants, or skyscrapers, as well things like software or fighter jets.

Average Salary: $86,600

Top Salary: $149,000

Quality of life ratings:
Personal satisfaction: A | Benefit to society: B | Low stress: A

17. IT Program Manager

This job is about managing people, and helping the team complete a project, which could be a technology system or an Internet-based software product. A good project manager knows how to build the right team and be the right leader — which means knowing when to step up and when to step back.

In charge of internal audits for a company, auditing directors review and assess business and financial risks to make sure they are in line with laws and look out for ways a company may be wasting resources.

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14. User Experience Designer

A user experience designer spends a lot of the day thinking about how a person interacts with digital products, like websites. It might be about rearranging buttons on a webpage, or changing the way someone interacts with an online educational tool.

Dentists tend to see about 10 to 12 patients a day, depending on the amount of work required. Some appointments are the basic teeth and gum exams followed by cleanings or cavity fillings, while others involve more complex procedures like a root canal or cosmetic work that can take several hours.

Average Salary: $152,000

Top Salary: $271,000

Quality of life ratings:
Personal satisfaction: A | Benefit to society: A | Low stress: B

12. Portfolio Manager

Portfolio managers help people manage their money — often people who are quite wealthy. They meet with clients to develop an understanding of objectives and then help decide the right mix of stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities or other investments to hit that goal.

As health care records go digital, clinical applications specialists play a key role in the convergence of technology and clinical care. They help merge the two worlds to digitize the health care process, including scheduling, lab results, doctor’s notes and medical records. They help develop and execute new system applications and monitor their effectiveness.

Average Salary: $84,300

Top Salary: $102,000

Quality of life ratings:
Personal satisfaction: A | Benefit to society: A | Low stress: A

10. Pilates/Yoga Instructor

Yoga instructors balance their time between teaching classes that bring the physical and spiritual together, planning what goes into each class and getting the word out about a studio.
Average Salary: $102,000

Top Salary: $119,000

Quality of life ratings:
Personal satisfaction: A | Benefit to society: A | Low stress: A

9. Info Assurance Analyst

It’s more apparent than ever that our personal information — from emails to what we store on the “cloud” — can be exposed. Information assurance analysts try to prevent that from happening. They determine how to make information easily available to those who need it, while keeping it out of the wrong hands.

Database developers are like data wranglers. Their job is to make sure companies can access data they’ve collected from customers, by coming up with ways to organize it all into something that makes sense. The business uses that information to increase efficiency and profitability.

These advanced practice RNs act as a clinical resource for nurses and work closely with the staff on complex or high-risk patients. Most work in hospitals and evaluate current protocols and help implement new policies. They primarily focus on improving patient care, and can specialize in a particular area of care like oncology or pain management.

Average Salary: $89,300

Top Salary: $130,000

Quality of life ratings:
Personal satisfaction: A | Benefit to society: A | Low stress: B

6. Continuous Improvement Manager

Continuous improvement managers identify goals that make a company more efficient, then teach employees how to work toward those targets, and review how well these practices are embedded in the culture. It’s all about making sure a company continues to move forward smoothly.

Average Salary: $96,600

Top Salary: $130,000

Quality of life ratings:
Personal satisfaction: A | Benefit to society: B | Low stress: A

5. Hospital Administrator

Hospital administrators coordinate with different departments and staff to keep the place running smoothly. They juggle medical professionals, patients and operating staff to create an efficient operation.

Average Salary: $114,000

Top Salary: $207,000

Quality of life ratings:
Personal satisfaction: A | Benefit to society: A | Low stress: C

4. Patent Agent

Patent agents look at inventions and decide if they should be patented, prepare and file patent applications, and represent inventors in front of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Average Salary: $126,000

Top Salary: $182,000

Quality of life ratings:
Personal satisfaction: A | Benefit to society: A | Low stress: A

3. Landman

As the nation’s energy boom unfolds, landmen are needed to negotiate oil and gas leases between the companies and the folks that own the resources. They travel the countryside in search of people willing to sell their mineral rights, and match them with oil firms.

Average Salary: $103,000

Top Salary: $160,000

Quality of life ratings:
Personal satisfaction: A | Benefit to society: A | Low stress: A

2. Video Game Designer

It’s not all fun and games for video game designers. Much like movie directors, they’re responsible for the entire creative vision of a project, and lead a team of programmers, designers and artists, to realize the vision.

Average Salary: $79,900

Top Salary: $115,000

Quality of life ratings:
Personal satisfaction: A | Benefit to society: B | Low stress: A

1. Software Architect

In the same way an architect designs a house, software architects lay out a design plan for new programs. That usually means leading a team of developers and engineers, and making sure all the pieces come together to make fully-functioning software.

Average Salary: $124,000

Top Salary: $169,000

Quality of life ratings:
Personal satisfaction: A | Benefit to society: B | Telecommuting: A | Low stress: A